Wednesday 23 December 2009
News: From Guantánamo to Desk at Al Jazeera: NYT
From Guantánamo to Desk at Al Jazeera
Published: December 22, 2009Of the 779 known detainees who have been held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba — terrorism suspects, sympathizers of Al Qaeda, people deemed enemy combatants by the United States military — only one was a journalist.The journalist, Sami al-Hajj, was working for Al Jazeera as a cameraman when he was stopped by Pakistani forces on the border with Afghanistan in late 2001. The United States military accused Mr. Hajj of, among other things, falsifying documents and delivering money to Chechen rebels, although he was never charged with a crime during his years in custody.Now, more than a year after his release, Mr. Hajj, a 40-year-old native of Sudan, is back at work at the Arabic satellite news network, leading a new desk devoted to human rights and public liberties. The captive has become the correspondent.
to read more:
Tuesday 22 December 2009
Blog links: CJR: Monday Links: Brass Replica, CDFI Funding, Reuters Caves?
Monday 21 December 2009
News: Google's subsidiaries allow company to avoid £450m tax on UK advertising: GDN
Revenues from customers in Britain were diverted to Google Ireland Limited
Sunday 20 December 2009 17.40 GMT Google is one of a number of multinational companies engaged in 'transfer pricing', seen by many anti-avoidance campaigners as one of the biggest challenges for the exchequer Photograph: Alamy
Google, which has an estimated 90% market share of UK internet searches, last year used a cross-border network of subsidiary companies to ensure it did not pay a penny in corporation tax on its £1.6bn advertising revenues in Britain.The international corporate structure enables Google to avoid paying what could otherwise have been a corporation tax bill in the UK of as much as £450m.to read more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/dec/20/google-avoids-450m-corporation-tax[
Read the rest ... ]
blog link: Two splashes, two myths, and two direct hits on Sunday tabloid exclusives - Roy Greenslade
The
tabloid watch blog, which scores so many bullseyes in deconstructing the myths of our popular press, has scored another direct hit with its analysis of the latest
Sunday Express splash. Note the headline on this front page and then read the evidence in the blog's posting,
The Express has anger and truth issues. It's a further reminder of the way in which the news desk on an under-staffed, cash-strapped paper (the one that published so many lies about the McCann family) goes about inventing stories.
to read more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2009/dec/21/sundayexpress-mailonsunday[
Read the rest ... ]
Sunday 20 December 2009
Rubicon: The strange world of the Investigative Food Journalist
Browsing through the Guardian supplement on '50 Best Festive Pubs' on Saturday I noticed one of the reviews was written by Joanna Blythman who describes herself as a 'investigative food journalist'. Its the first time I have ever heard this description and it brought a wry smile to my face. I've certainly met a lot of journalists who I could describe an investigative beer journalists or investigative wine journalists, whose lifetime devotion to their subject deserved, well cirrhosis.
I began to imagine the writing style of an investigative food journalist. "Entering the Foodie's Arms posing as a customer, I distracted the well trained door staff while I managed obtained secret documents that revealed the food purporting to be available. The owner was offering cod, a fish well know to be an endangered species. The documents, stamped 'menu', revealed mange-tout had been flown in fron Kenya, secretly, despite the impact on climate warming. At the reinforced entrance door, desperate manage tout addicts queued."
I also started to think of titles for other specialised investigative journalists. Investigative beauty Journalist, Investigative fashion journalist, Investigative motoring journalist were among those I could not imagine. I really stumbled when it came to sports journalists. It my career I have only come across one investigative journalist who seriously dealt with sports(Andrew Jennings), the rest seeing their task as basically as a cheer leader for an often corrupt industry.
I felt obliged to find out more about investigative food journalists. There is, of course , a long history of journalists specialising in closely examining the food industry: there was Geoffrey Cannon and Derek Cooper of the BBC R4 from the 1980s onwards. A google of the exact term revealed that the term normally turns up in together with Joanna Blythman who I know now works for the Sunday Herald and seems to do a lot of good work.
That's the great thing at journalism you learn something every day.
'Rubicon'
